New Students
by half-dark half-light wolf
Summary: The Village Hidden in the Leaves has agreed to teach some new students from a village that is just starting up. So what happens when the new students aren't at all what was expected? How will Naruto deal with it? You must read to find out!Ok, I'm proba
1. Chapter 1

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were waiting on the bridge for their sensei, who was once again, late. Three hours late to be exact. By now all three ninja were extremely annoyed.

"Where is he?!" Naruto shouted, pacing around the bridge. "He's three hours late! Again!!!"

Sasuke merely opened one eye and glared in annoyance at the hyperactive blond. "If he was late yesterday, and late the day before that, what made you think that he would show up on time today?" he snapped coldly while planning various ways to torture his sensei for being late again. He looked at his watch again and made a mental note to make it a very slow and painful punishment.

"Naruto, stop annoying Sasuke!" Sakura shouted, and Naruto started to pout. "So, Sasuke, what do you think his excuse will be this time?" Sakura asked in an attempt to get her crush to talk with her. Needless to say, the attempt failed miserably.

Sasuke only replied with his usual "Hn", before returning to thinking of all the different ways to kill his brother.

Naruto, on the other hand, was only too happy to talk with Sakura. "He'll probably say that he got lost on the path of life again." Naruto said loudly, receiving a glare from Sakura, though she did have to admit that it was true.

"I didn't ask you!" she yelled, hitting the blond across the head.

They waited for another half hour before they saw Hinata running towards the stadium in a hurry. All three teammates looked at each other, then all got up and ran after her before she got too far.

"Hey Hinata!" Natuto called out to her, and Hinata almost tripped and fell flat on her face at the sound of her name being called. Regaining her balance, she turned to see who had called her name, blushing when she saw Naruto jogging towards her.

"Hey Hinata, where are you running off to in such a hurry?" Sakura asked curiously, looking at the other girl. Hinata gazed at them in surprise, her mouth slightly open.

"Um, didn't you sensei tell you?" she asked tentively in her soft voice. "Our sensei's were supposed to tell us yesterday to meet at the stadium at 11:00. All of the ninja teams are supposed to meet there." She looked up at Naruto quickly before looking down again, blushing slightly.

Sakura developed a severe twitch in her left eye and got a scary look on her face. "No, he seems to have forgotten to mention that little detail." She managed to choke out between clenched teeth.

Hinata took a step back from Sakura, looking scared. "Well, um, do you want to go to the stadium together?" she asked shyly, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"Yeah, great idea Hinata!" Naruto exclaimed, patting the girl on the shoulder. Hinata almost fainted from the contact. "Let's go." Naruto called, already running towards the stadium. Sakura and Sasuke rolled their eyes and starting running after him. Hinata just stood there for a second before running after them. When she caught up Sakura turned her head to look at her.

"So why do we all have to go to the stadium?" Sakura asked, staring at Hinata in confusion.

"There is a new Hidden Village starting up in the mountains about 100 miles north of here." Hinata replied, still running. "Since the new village won't know anything about fighting or ninja training, our village has been asked to train them for a while until they can fight and develop special techniques of their own. The trainees are coming in today, so we were asked to come to the stadium to see which ones would be training on our teams and to get to know them a bit before training began."

Sakura nodded, wondering how her sensei could have forgotten to mention such an important thing. Vaguely she wondered what the new students would be like.

They finally reached the stadium after about 15 minutes, slowing to a walk as they reached the entrance. Hinata quickly ran off to find her teammates and sensei after a stammered good-bye, leaving Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura to look for their own sensei, Kakashi. They finally found him sitting near the stands, reading an all too familiar orange book.

Sakura's eyes nearly popped out her head with anger when she saw her sensei sitting there, and marched up to him, fuming. She was abut to start her rant, but was cut off by Naruto.

"Kakashi- sensei, why didn't you tell us that we were supposed to meet here today?" Naruto half whined, half shouted. "We were sitting on that bridge for over 3 hours before Hinata ran by and told us that we were supposed to meet here! If she hadn't run by, we'd probably still be sitting there!"

Kakashi just blinked slowly at his three students for a minute before replying. "I guess that must have forgot… or something." He said thoughtfully, causing all of his students to sweatdrop. Naruto was just about to start yelling at him again when a loud yell got all of their attention. They all turned around, and so did the 20 or 30 other teams there. All of them looked up at a raised podium in the middle of the stadium where the Hokage and a strange man stood. The Hokage looked at each person there before he began talking.

"Thank you all for coming here. You all know why you are gathered here today." He started, speaking loudly and clearly so that even the people in the back could hear him. "And now, the leader of the new village, Daichi, would like to speak to you."

The other man standing near the Hokage stepped forward and gazed at the assembled ninja for a moment before speaking. He was a tall, scarred man with his hair shaved off and wearing a black trench coat and sturdy looking boots. "I would first like to thank the Hidden Leaf Village for agreeing to train some of our people in the way of the ninja. We shall someday become strong enough to become a Hidden Village of our own, and when that day arrives we shall choose our village name and sign a peace treaty with you r village." He paused and smiled out over the crowd. "The students who have been brought here are the finest in our village, and we fully expect each of them to acquire the status of ninja and defend their village. Now, without further ado, the future ninja of our village!"

The gates to the stadium swung wide open to admit the new students. Naruto craned his head around the others in the crowd, expecting to see tall, powerfully muscled 13 and 14 year olds. But at first he didn't see anything at all. Sakura nudged him and Sasuke and pointed down.

Looking where she was pointing, Naruto saw……….. a large group of 7-year olds?! The girl farthest out front, a lean girl with light tawny gold hair and pale sky blue eyes looked around at the assembled ninja and blinked innocently at them. The others milled behind her, staring at the ninja uncertainly.

"Um, hi!" The girl said in a soft cheerful voice. "We're the new students!"

Everyone's jaw dropped.


	2. Chapter 2

"No way!" Naruto shouted at the top of his voice, causing the kids to all jump backwards a couple feet. The girl who had been talking bolted back into the group as fast as she could. "They're all way to young to train with us! So why would you bring th-"

Sakura cut Naruto off by placing a hand over his mouth. "Shut up!" she snarled "And show some respect for once! If they've traveled all the way here then we should at least try to help."

Even the Hokage looked shocked. He turned to look at Daichi, who smiled reassuringly at him. "Don't worry, I assure you that they can keep pace with any training program you give them" He turned and glared at the kids in a way that said 'they'd better'. All of the kids cowered and flinched away, a couple of them looking close to tears. A few of them nodded meekly to back up Daichi' words, while the others just stared silently at the ground. The Hokage hesitated, then nodded slowly.

"Very well" he said to Daichi. "We'll see how they perform and then decide based on that whether or not they can train with the Hidden Leaf ninja." He turned around to look at the ninja once again. "These are the students that will be training with you. I expect you to teach them well enough to be able to defend themselves." He pulled out a clipboard. "Now, as I call your team up, you'll be assigned your students and then you can start getting to know them. Each team will be given six students because of the large number of them. Now, starting with Team 1!"

Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi watched as the team went up and received the six students that they would be training. Naruto was still fuming over having to baby-sit some little kids, and even Sasuke was wondering what the Hokage was thinking when he agreed to teach these kids.

They waited until the Hokage called their team, then all walked up to the podium. "This is your group." the Hokage said, and Daichi shoved a tightly knit group of six towards them. A couple of them stumbled from the sudden push, and grabbed on to the person in front of them or to the side to keep from falling. They all cast Daichi a quick look out of the corner of their eyes before bowing deeply before their new teachers. Kakashi nodded respectfully to the Hokage, then walked back towards the other groups. Sasuke walked after him without a glance at the kids while Naruto and Sakura herded them after Kakashi and Sasuke.

After all of the teams had their new students the Hokage turned and looked at the ninja for a moment, and they all fell silent. "These students are your responsibility." he started, "teach them in the way on the ninja, and for goodness sake, don't kill them on the first day of training. You're dismissed." That said, he turned and walked away. Daichi paused to look at each of the groups one more time before turning and following.

The other teams slowly left the stadium until Team 7 was the only team still there. They all turned to look at the six kids. The group consisted of six girls, all who were doing their best to avoid direct eye contact. Naruto saw that one of them was the girl who had first spoken out.

Kakashi looked at them for a moment before speaking. "All of you meet me on the roof of that building in 10 minutes." he said, pointing to a large building next to the stadium, then disappearing in a whirl of leaves. The six girls looked at the spot where he had been is shock, and one of them muttered 'cool!'. They all glanced up at team 7 uncertainly, not sure whether to start walking there or to follow them.

"C'mon" Sakura said and started walking towards the exit. The new students quickly followed, having to jog to keep up with Sakura's walk because she was so much bigger than them. Sasuke glared at their retreating backs before following, still glaring, and Naruto ran after Sakura until he was walking right behind the kids. They all glanced back at him, nodding respectfully, before continuing on in silence. He frowned, wondering how any kids could be so silent, while the kids looked at the city with huge eyes.

"It's huge!" one of them murmured softly, and the others nodded.

"And there are so many people in it" another one added in amazement, her mouth slightly open.

They all reached the building and climbed up the stairs to find Kakashi on the roof, already there. He glanced up from the book he was reading (A/N One guess what that book is!) before putting it down with a regretful sigh and motioning for them to find someplace to sit. They all sat near the edge of the roof, looking around nervously. Kakashi cleared his throat before he began talking. "Well, since you're going to be training with us, I guess that we should get to know each other first. I am Kakashi, they are Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura. Now I want you to tell us your names and some things about you. For example, you likes, dislikes, dreams, and things like that." He pointed towards a girl with longish white hair, pink eyes, and very pale skin. (A/N Yeah, she's albino) She wore long pink pants and a lighter pink tee shirt with a dark paw mark in the center. (A/N shudder pink is evil…) "You start."

The girl stood up slowly and looked at the others before speaking. "My name is Yuki. I don't have a last name. None of us have last names in truth. I like cold weather, snow, and cats. I don't like really bright sunlight, people who are rude, or broccoli. My fighting style is to use ice and long chains, and my dream is to prove to my family that I'm not weak or worthless." She fell silent and walked back to sit down again.

The next girl got up and walked forward. It was the same girl who had spoken the first time. She basically wore the same clothes as Yuki, only hers were sky blue with a star in the center of the shirt instead of a paw print. Her tawny gold hair was up in a bun. She smiled warmly. "Hi, my name is Hikari. I like swimming, all animals, and little kids. I don't like cruelty, seeing others in pain, stuck-up people, or spinach. Actually, I don't like any vegetable. Fruit's ok though. I'm not really sure that I have a dream. I guess that it would be to help other people as much as I can." Her eyes suddenly narrowed and looked a lot harder and colder. "I really don't like it when someone hurts my friends or family. If you hurt them, you will pay… no exceptions." She snarled in a cold voice, giving them a death glare. Just as suddenly her warm smile returned and she walked back to her seat, pale blue eyes sparkling cheerfully.

A third girl got up and walked forward. She had black hair that came down a couple of inches below her shoulders, purple eyes, and pale skin. (A/N Ok, they all wear the same type of clothes, just different colors and symbols. I'll just put down the colors and symbols now.) The girl wore purple with a black bird in the center. "My name is Ayako. I like learning new things, designing traps, reading, and coming up with strategies. I don't like stupid questions, annoying people, and chipmunks freak me out. My dream is to use my knowledge to do something useful and exciting." She spoke quietly, then went to sit down.

The fourth girl got up and ran into the center, full of energy. She was the shortest of the six and had long black hair with a reddish sheen to it that was kept back in a braid and black eyes. She wore red with a darker red bow and arrow in the middle of her shirt. "Hi, my name is Suzume. I like archery, birds, and looking down from really high places. I don't like board games, boring things, or big crowds. My dream is learn every wind type jutsu that there is." She said all of this as fast as she could and ran back to her seat and started looking at the clouds.

The fifth girl stepped forward, looking annoyed at having to be there. She wore dark gray with black claw marks on her shirt. Her eyes were a cold steel gray and her hair was shoulder length grayish/ brown. " My name is Aneko." She started grudgingly " I like fighting, getting stronger, and learning new techniques. I don't like know-it-alls, weaklings, or any fruits or vegetables. My dream is to become the strongest one in my family." She gave one last glare before returning to her seat.

Finally, the sixth girl stood up. She had dark shoulder length brown hair and brownish/ green eyes. Her clothes were dark green with a picture of a lioness in the middle, and she kept her eyes pinned to the ground submissively. She scuffled her feet for a minute before beginning. "My name is Tierra. I like learning about the earth, gardening, and I would like to learn fighting skills where I can use the earth and soil to fight. I don't like people who litter or people who are mean to my friends. My dream is to be a strong as my sisters and prove that I can get strong." She backed away and sat down

Kakashi blinked and nodded. "Very well. You may have the rest of the day to explore the village and get settled in. The six of you will meet at the training grounds at 6 am tomorrow morning. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura will show you where the training grounds are. Don't eat anything before you come."

They all nodded to show that they understood and watched as Kakashi poofed away. "We've got to learn how to do that!" Yuki said, still sitting. They all stood up.

"Ok, we'll start your tour with the training grounds, ok?" Sakura asked, and all six nodded.

"Yeah, let's go. We can go get some ramen after that! RAMEN!!!" Naruto shouted, and began running towards the training grounds. They all sighed and began to run after him.

"What's ramen?" Aneko muttered to Hikari. Hikari just shrugged and kept running


	3. Chapter 3

On the way to the training grounds they paused at the bridge that team 7 normally met at. "This is where we meet every day with Kakashi. From here we go and get an assignment from the Hokage or go to train." Sakura explained. Yuki, Ayako, and Tierra nodded, while Aneko just scoffed. Suzume was watching some birds fluttering in a nearby tree and trying to run over to catch them, and Hikari was doing her best to restrain Suzume. Just as they were turning to leave, Suzume broke out of the choke hold that Hikari had on her and charged at the tree, causing the birds to scatter. Aneko rolled her eyes and marched over. She began to drag Suzume back towards the group by the ear, ignoring her yelps of protest.

When Aneko finally managed to drag Suzume back over to the others, they continued on their way, Suzume muttering crossly and rubbing her now very sore ear. They all walked into a large clearing a few minutes later, and the six new students glanced around curiously.

"This is the training ground. On the days that we don't have missions, we come here to practice." Sakura explained.

"Can we look around?" Ayako asked, trying to look at everything at once.

"Uh, sure." Sakura replied, looking confused as to why they would want to look around, but deciding that it couldn't bring any harm.

The six of them instantly spread out in opposite directions, checking every corner of the clearing for about 15 minutes before returning. When they finally did return, they all gathered around Sasuke in a circle, staring hard. He looked at all of them coldly.

"What?" he snapped, looking annoyed. When they still didn't respond he got angrier. "What are all of you staring at?!" he snarled, glaring.

"Your hair…" Yuki muttered, "it makes you look like a…cockatoo…" The others all nodded in agreement, still staring. Naruto burst out laughing and fell over, laughing hysterically. As for the girls, they took one look at the evil look that Sasuke was giving them and ran to hide behind Sakura and the still laughing Naruto with loud "Eeps!" They peeked out from behind their guardians against Sasuke's hair-comment-driven-wrath to see if he was still mad at them for the comment. Sasuke gave them another death glare and they all stuck their tongues out at him. Sakura just rolled her eyes at the childish behavior while Naruto sat up, still chuckling.

"You know… hehehe… what they said is true." Naruto snickered. Sasuke just glared and turned away, staring into the forest. Naruto grinned at his six new best friends, already planning all of the different pranks that they could play on Sasuke. 'Although, to be completely fair,' Naruto thought, 'I really don't think that they were kidding or trying to be funny when they said it. I think that they were just stating a fact.' He mentally shrugged and decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Can we just go and get your stupid ramen now?" Sasuke snapped, staring coldly at a nearby tree.

"Sure, whatever you say… Cockatoo." Naruto said in a mock serious voice while climbing to his feet, grinning.

Sasuke whirled around and bopped Naruto sharply on the head, then turned to the six girls, planning to do the same to them for starting the whole thing.

When Sasuke raised his fist, Hikari, Suzume, Ayako, Aneko, and Tierra all blinked and took a step back, looking startled. Yuki took one look at the raised fist, turned around, and started running back down the path towards town, wailing.

Hikari raised her head at the sound of the wail and saw Yuki sprinting off. She hesitated for a moment before walking forward slowly for a few feet, then started running after Yuki. "Yuki, wait!!!" she called, trying to keep sight of the pale skinned girl. Yuki ran down one of the side streets, and Hikari followed a few feet behind, panting. 'Since when has Yuki been able to run this fast for this long?' Hikari wondered as she weaved in and out of various people, dodging a woman with a baby stroller. Unfortunately, she failed to notice the telephone pole.

CRACK!

Hikari fell back, a large bump forming in the middle of her forehead.

Hikari:

"Ouch…" Hikari moaned as she sat up slowly, rubbing her sore head. Her eyes widened as she looked around frantically for Yuki. She caught sight of a flash of white hair disappearing around a corner, and shook her head slightly with a weary sigh. Climbing to her feet, she dusted herself off before beginning to trudge slowly after Yuki. She turned the corner that Yuki had and saw a large park. She felt a flash of relief when she noticed Yuki sitting on a wooden swing, sniffling quietly.

Hikari walked over to the swing and stood there for a moment. "Is there any room for me to sit down?" she asked quietly, and Yuki just nodded, scooting over to one side of the swing. Hikari was quiet for a minute before speaking. "Why did you run away?" she asked softly, not looking at Yuki.

Yuki stared at the ground dejectedly. "I thought that he was going to beat me. Like Daichi does to us if we do something wrong," she whispered, looking ready to cry. "I didn't mean to make him mad. We haven't even been with our new teachers for a day and I've already messed up." Her head hung.

Hikari glared at her. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard you say Yuki. We're all going to mess up at some time or another, and when we do mess up, it's better to just say sorry and try to learn from it, not run away!" Her eyes softened. "I guess that it's ok to be scared, but don't worry. I'll always be here to help you no matter what, and I bet that the others will too. And just because Daichi is a huge jerk doesn't mean that everyone is gonna be like that."

Yuki's head jerked up at the first harsh words, lowering her eyes and nodding slowly at what Hikari said after that. Without warning Yuki threw her arms around Hikari in a tight hug. Hikari stiffened at the sudden contact. "Err, there there?" she said uncertainly with a freaked out look on her face, patting Yuki lightly on the head. Yuki burst out laughing and let go. "Thanks for the pep talk Hikari." Yuki said. "I'm really glad at moments like this that we're sisters."

Hikari grinned at her sister, then put a fake hurt look on her face. "You're only glad that we're sisters sometimes?" she asked, fake pouting while trying to keep from grinning.

Yuki got a thoughtful look on her face. "Well, you don't hog the bathroom as much as Suzume, so yeah, I'm glad we're related." Yuki looked at Hikari closely and frowned. "What happened to you head?"

Hikari laughed and hopped off the swing. "Don't ask." she muttered, feeling the bump on her head. Yuki just sighed and shook her head. "C'mon, lets get back to the others." Hikari said as Yuki climbed off the swing. Yuki nodded, and they both set off running in the direction that they had come from. At least until they both ran into something.

THUMP.

They both fell over backwards as they collided with someone. Yuki opened her eyes, rubbing the back of her head where it had smacked against the ground. She looked over at Hikari, who was laying on her back with her eyes slightly crossed.

'Why do I keep on running into things today?!' Hikari thought dazedly, trying to focus her eyes on who they had run into. Both she and Yuki sat up, groaning, to see a wall of sand in front of them. "Sorry!" they both chorused, staring at the sand in confusion. The sand suddenly shifted to reveal an older redhead boy with a weird gourd thing on his back staring at them coldly.


	4. Chapter 4

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura stared after the two running girls in shock. They turned to stare at the four remaining girls, who were staring at Sasuke nervously.

"What was that about?!" Sakura asked, looking at them in confusion.

Aneko gazed at them emotionlessly while Ayako spoke. "Aren't you going to punish us?" Ayako whispered, staring at Sasuke. Her purple eyes, like Aneko's gray ones, held no emotion. The same was true for Suzume and Tierra.

"Punish you for what?" Sakura asked, looking even more confused now.

"For doing something wrong. That's the reason that you got mad, right? Because we did something wrong." Suzume said quietly in a flat voice, as though she was just stating a fact.

Naruto looked at them weirdly. "We wouldn't hurt you because you did something wrong. And you didn't really do anything wrong! Sasuke's always mad. It would be scary if he wasn't mad!"

Aneko jerked her head up sharply. "You mean you're not going to hit us?" she whispered, looking amazed that not being hit was even a possibility.

Naruto frowned. "Of course not. Have you ever been hit for doing something wrong?"

All four of them nodded. "Daichi hits us. All the time." Suzume said, looking them in the eye. "He got really mad with a boy who was traveling with us on the way here." her voice trembled as she said it. "He… he died from his injuries about halfway here."

Naruto, Sakura, and even Sasuke looked horrified. "You… you mean… that Daichi killed him?" Sakura whispered in a shocked voice.

All of them nodded again. "That's why Yuki ran. She was really good friends with that boy. Daichi pretty much killed him right in front of her." Aneko murmured, and Tierra shuddered from the memory.

"But Daichi seemed ok when we met him at the stadium. He even agreed to be at peace with us and to stand with us against our enemies. How can he be that bad?!" Sakura asked them, hoping that they were just playing a cruel joke or something.

Ayako gave her a scathing look, and the other three stared at Sakura in disbelief. "For someone who's so smart, that's a pretty stupid thing to say." Ayako snapped. "Think about all of the times in history that something like this happens, where one village agrees to train another. And what ends up happening every single time?"

Sakura just looked at them, bewildered. "What are you talking about?"

Suddenly their eyes didn't look like seven-year old's eyes anymore. They looked like the eyes of ancient people, who had seen too much of the world. They gazed at them in sympathy, sadness flooding their eyes.

"When you have earned the right to know, and earned our trust, you will learn about us and some of our secrets. Until that day comes, try working with what we've already told you." They all said together in the exact same tone, eyes almost glowing.

Just as quickly their eyes returned to normal. "Can we go and find Yuki and Hikari now?" Suzume asked, voice perky.

Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke nodded, unable to speak. Aneko, Suzume, Ayako, and Tierra all grinned and flashed them thumbs up before beginning to walk down the road. They all stopped when they reached the town and looked around in confusion. "Which way now?" Suzume asked, scanning the crowd.

"I think that we should all split up. We'll meet at the ramen shop in an hour." Naruto said, nearly drooling at the thought of ramen.

The others agreed, and Sasuke went to the right, Sakura with Suzume, Ayako, Aneko, and Tierra, went to the left, and Naruto continued on straight.

Naruto jogged down the street until he came to what he thought might be a clue. There was a now cracked telephone pole in front of him with a face print in it. 'Hm, I think that they went this way.' He kept on walking until he came to a road block. The ramen shop! He inched past it, fighting his stomach, which was telling him to go into the shop and gorge on ramen. He was just about to turn around and sprint into the ramen shop when he saw a familiar red head. Looking over, he recognized Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro.

A brilliant idea came to his mind. (A/N Hey, it could happen! ….. well, ok, maybe not, but it does here! So says the authoress!) Why not get Gaara to help him search? He ran over to him, yelling his name at the top of his lungs. Gaara turned around slowly to look at him and started to speak before he was cut off.

"Hey Gaara, have you seen two girls running around here?" he said loudly, glancing repeatedly at the ramen shop. Hikari's head suddenly popped up over Temari's shoulder, looking around. Yuki looked over Kankuro's head from where she was sitting on his shoulders, small hands gripping the ears of his hood.

"Naruto-sama!!!" they both yelled and launched themselves at him in a tackle hug. Naruto, who was too busy looking at the ramen shop, wasn't prepared for impact, and fell backwards, landing flat on his back.

He sat up, with Hikari and Yuki still attached to him, to see Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro already walking away. "Bye!!!" Hikari and Yuki called, waving at their retreating backs. Temari and Kankuro turned around and waved back while Gaara just kept on walking.

Naruto stared at Hikari and Yuki in shock. "How did you end up with them?" he asked curiously, staring at them.

Yuki looked up in surprise. "Oh, well…

Flashback

Both she and Yuki sat up, groaning, to see a wall of sand in front of them. "Sorry!" they both chorused, staring at the sand in confusion. The sand suddenly shifted to reveal an older redhead boy with a weird gourd thing on his back staring at them coldly.

A freaked out look appeared on their faces as they noticed that the sand swirling around him now encircled them and was rising higher into the air. The redhead glared at them, holding out his hand. He began to make a fist, and the sand tightened around them as he did.

"Gaara, wait! They're just little kids!" a girls voice shouted. The sand stopped moving towards them as Hikari and Yuki sat, rigid in fear.

They blinked as two more people came up behind the redhead. The girl, who Hikari saw had a giant fan on her back, leaned forward to get a better look at the two girls. "What are you two doing, running around on your own like that?" the girl asked them, leaning on a nearby telephone pole.

Both Yuki and Hikari stumbled to their feet. "We're really sorry for running into you!" Hikari said as they both bowed respectfully to the three.

"Yeah, we were looking for our new teachers." Yuki said, then a bright look came to her face. "Do you know where they are? Their names are Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi. Do you know where we can find them?"

"My name is Hikari, and this is Yuki." Hikari added.

The other boy nodded, who was also carrying something on his back and was wearing weird face paint. "Yeah, we know them. Knowing Naruto, he'll be at the ramen shop stuffing as much down his throat as possible. My name is Kankuro, the girl is my sister Temari, and the redhead is my little brother Gaara."

"We'll take you to the ramen shop to see if Naruto is there. It's not too far away from here, and we have to go by there anyway." Temari said, looking around the street, then glanced nervously at Gaara to see if he would say anything. Instead the sand just slithered away from Yuki and Hikari, and both of them sighed quietly in relief.

"Thank you!!!" Hikari and Yuki said happily, walking towards them. Kankuro picked up Yuki, who instantly spotted the ears on his hood. She gave a squeal of delight at the sight of them and climbed up until she was sitting on his shoulders with her hands firmly attached to the ears. While Kankuro tried (unsuccessfully) to pry Yuki's hands off the hood, Gaara picked up Hikari by the scruff of the neck, who stared directly into his eyes, and passed her to Temari. Hikari scooted around until she was riding piggyback on Temari and poked her head over Temari's shoulder, still staring at Gaara.

"You're sorta like Naruto…" she said slowly, brow wrinkled. "Your not exactly the same, but you have something like what Naruto has that makes him a bit different from Sasuke and Sakura." She shook her head in annoyance. "I don't know what it is, or how to describe it differently, but it's there."

Gaara, stiffened as Yuki leaned over to look at him more closely. Yuki nodded in agreement.

"Ok, now which way to the ramen shop?" Hikari asked, looking around and having lost all interest in the conversation.

"This way." Temari said, glancing nervously at Gaara and beginning to walk. They got there in about 10 minutes and heard Naruto's voice asking if Gaara had seen them.

End Flashback

Yuki and Hikari finished telling Naruto what had happened, although they left out what they had said to Gaara about noticing something different. They didn't know why, but they didn't think that it would be a good idea at all to bring it up.

They all heard their names being called, and turned around to see Sakura, Suzume, Ayako, Aneko, and Tierra running towards them with looks of relief on their faces while Sasuke walked slowly behind them. They all ran towards each other, but before they could have any type of reunion, Naruto butted in.

"Right, now that we're all back together, let's get some ramen!" he yelled.

"Ok but just one question first." Hikari said.

All six girls took a deep breath. "WHAT'S RAMEN?!" they all shouted, looking curious.

Naruto gasped in pure horror at the question and staggered around for a moment before fainting on the ground from shock, twitching.

"Um, are you ok Naruto-sama?" Suzume asked, poking the unconscious twitching boy.


	5. Chapter 5

All six of them gathered anxiously around the collapsed Naruto, wondering what had happened, while Sasuke and Sakura just rolled their eyes.

Naruto abruptly sat up, scattering the group of seven-year-olds hovering over him. "How can you not know what ramen is?!" he asked them in horror, then without waiting for them to answer began to talk again. "Its got noodles and meat and sometimes vegetables-"

"Hang on", Aneko interrupted "did you say noodles?"

"Oh, that explains it!" Ayako said, nodding her head, "None of us have ever had any noodles or anything like that".

"What, why?" Naruto asked, looking confused and still horrified that they didn't know about ramen.

"We come from the mountains," Hikari explained, picking herself up and wondering why most of her day was being spent on the ground "there aren't a lot of plants there, and noodles are made of plants. Also, Daichi doesn't give us that many fruits or vegetable. Our diet is pretty much about 95 meat, and maybe a couple of vegetables or something each year."

"Why does Daichi only want you to eat meat? It can't be healthy." Sakura said.

All six of them shrugged slightly, looking uncomfortable.

"Something about meat making us stronger and plants being for the prey and not the hunters." Yuki muttered. "But we're given vitamins and stuff to make sure that we stay healthy." She added in a louder voice.

Sakura was about to question them some more, when Naruto cut her off.

"Well then what are we standing here for? Let's go get some ramen!!! My treat." he cheered, then grabbed all six girls and ran into the ramen shop with them. Sakura just gave a weary sigh and followed, Sasuke right behind her.

The six girls were sitting on stools, blinking in confusion as to had they had gotten inside the shop so quick, and Naruto was explaining the different types of ramen to them.

"Hey, chef guy, I'll have pork!" Naruto yelled at the chef, who nodded and smiled at his best costumer.

"Um I guess that I'll have miso, please." Hikari said quietly.

"I'd like the Shio." Suzume muttered, looking around the shop with interest.

"Give me the Tonkotsu." Aneko added.

"Hm, I'll have the Shoyu." Ayako said, still looking confused at how they had gotten into the shop in the first place.

Yuki got the Chashu, Tierra got the Kyushu ramen, and both Sakura and Sasuke ordered the spicy miso. They all stared for a moment as Naruto gulped down his ramen faster than humanly possible. He was on his third bowl by the time that they got their first.

Suzume stared at her bowl suspiciously as though afraid that it was going to bite her, and Aneko and Yuki exchanged looks as the food was put down in front of them, eyebrows slightly raised. They all tentively took a sip of the ramen, and their eyes lit up.

"Good…" Yuki murmured quietly, and Naruto beamed at them. All six of them switched bowls and took a sip of the new one, nodding. They switched bowls like that until they had tried all of the different types. They all reached for their favorite bowl and ate the rest of that, smiling.

"That was really good." Hikari said, smiling at Naruto, (who had eaten 20 bowls), Sasuke (who had watched in disgust as Naruto ate 20 bowls), and Sakura ( who had watched Sasuke watch in disgust as Naruto ate 20 bowls). "Thank you for the food."

The chef came and put down second bowls in front of them, and they all looked at Naruto in surprise. He just motioned for them to eat as he gulped down another 5 bowls. Their eyes went soft with gratitude as they bent protectively over the food as though they were afraid that someone would take it away from them.

Hikari bent her head and took a sip. When she raised her head she saw that 4 people, an old man a younger women and two men, who had just entered the shop, were staring at Naruto with undisguised hate and fury. Confusion washed over her as she glanced from Naruto, who had stiffened when the people had first entered the shop and was still shoveling down as much ramen as he could, and back at the people, who were still staring at him as though he had just killed someone and they wanted revenge.

Yuki, Aneko, and Ayako all looked up to see them glaring before the group turned away and started muttering loudly. The four girls could almost hear what was being said, but not quite. They all closed their eyes and concentrated fiercely to try and make out what the strange group was saying.

"I can't believe that he dares to show his face in public," one of the men muttered, unaware that he had a bigger audience.

"I know." the other man said, contempt dripping from every word.

"Stupid demon brat, someone should have taken care of him a long time ago." the woman snarled, pure venom in her voice.

"True, and many have tried, but what can you do when the Hokage himself is on the brats side, eh?" the old man added in a harsh voice.

Hikari, Aneko, Yuki, and Ayako all opened their eyes and turned to look at Naruto. It was obvious that he had heard what they had said. He had a hurt look on his face and was gripping the bowl of ramen so had it was nearly breaking. Anger flared in their eyes, and a flaming background appeared behind them(A/N thankfully, no ramen was burned in this incident). They all looked at each other, and evil smiles appeared on their faces.

Yuki and Aneko grabbed their bowls of ramen as well as Hikari's and Ayako's bowls so that they each had two bowls. Hikari and Ayako put obviously fake looks of anger on their face.

"Hey, those are ours!" they fake whined, each grabbing onto two bowls. They began a tug-of-war with the ramen. Hikari and Aneko suddenly let go of the bowls, and all four bowls went soaring to land upside down on the four other people's heads. The strangers yelled as they were covered in hot ramen, before getting up and stalking angrily out of the ramen shop, glaring at Hikari, Yuki, Aneko, and Ayako as they went.

"That was really rude, you should have at least apologized!" Sakura scolded them sharply, not having noticed what the strangers had been saying.

All four of them shook their heads.

"No, you say sorry when it's an accident and you didn't mean to do it, or if you really feel sorry for doing it. None of those apply to us right now." Hikari said indifferently with a casual shrug while Naruto stared at them in shock, his mouth slightly open.

"That," Hikari said, pointing towards the ramen on the floor, "that was on purpose and completely planned." She gave a feral grin and Aneko, Ayako, and Yuki snickered.

The six girls glanced outside. The sun was setting and the streets were becoming less crowded.

"Than you for showing us around the village and for the food. We had better get going now." Aneko said, standing up. The other five followed suit and stood up, stretching.

"See you tomorrow!" they all called, and started running down the street together.


End file.
